Out on CD
Anthony King
Rick Berlin
Me and Van Gogh (Hi-N-Dry)
The CD release party (a huge success, so I’ve heard) was over two weeks ago, and featured Boston-based Rick Berlin along with a slew of other guest artists and queer friends jamming, drinking and having an all around ball. This week, Berlin’s latest album, Me and Van Gogh, is officially released to the rest of us. Van Gogh, the follow-up to Berlin’s first album, Live at Jacques, was recorded at the Hi-N-Dry loft in Cambridge and signals a return to the piano and great storytelling that Berlin is so good at. Introspective, hip and extremely subtle music, Van Gogh showcases Berlin’s unique vocals and personal song writing. Tracks “Beerbelly” and “Party Dress” have fun lyrics and a good sound, while standout track “Do You Still Love Me?” is a catchy, touching song of forgiveness and longing. Berlin definitely marches to his own beat, and thankfully for us he’s able to trap the sound and pass it on in a great, thoughtful collection of songs. Jump on the Berlin bandwagon and check out this local, queer artist.

by Rudy Kikel

Is that a fake name? Yes, My real name is Kinscherf.

Birthdate: April 19, 1945

Sign: Aries

Have you heard anything about Aries that seems true of you? They lead people down one blind alley after another.

Current residence: Jamaica Plain. The land of the lesbian. I love it there.

Ethnic roots: German, French and Scottish.

Occupations: Waiter, musician, artist. I'm making a documentary now about Jamaica Plain. I guess you could say my evolution as a filmmaker is in its early stages.

Religion: May the force be with you? I don't know.

Points of origin: I was born in Sioux City, Iowa. We lived there about six weeks and then I moved to Tuscon, Ariz. Then we moved to San Francisco for two years. Now I'm 6 years old, 54 to go.

You have any memories from that period that remain? That for the first time I noticed I had feelings for a kid.

You were still 5 or 6? We used to hang out in a ghost house. Noticed my feelings for him, but I don't think I noticed that I noticed them. The next stop was Weatogue, Conn. I remember a flood, boats being pulled up to our porch. I remember being in love with the new kid in school. We wrote letters back and forth, little boy love letters. Just a boyhood crush, you know?

I know. Why were you moving so much? My father kept changing jobs, in the front door and out the back. Then the jump was from a public school to a private day school. I liked the teachers, my friends, was in charge of the junior and senior proms, president of the junior and senior classes. Working it. I began singing as a boy soprano - my introduction to the interior thrill of music. I graduated second in my class, went off to college at Yale, wasting my father's money by socializing instead of studying, but I began to understand at least platonically the madness of loving another man.

How would you characterize your music? Song portraiture. Narrative driven but melodic. Honest. Odd in a good way. Highly emotional. More than anything else in my evidential life, it is who I am.

What groups have you been in? Orchestra Luna I and II. Luna. Berlin Airlift. The Suitcase Band. Rick Berlin - The Movie. The Awful Truth. The Shelley Winters Project.

Who have you been influenced by? John Lennon. Joni Mitchell. Randy Newman. The Beats. Paris in the 20's. Ingmar Bergman. Primarily the friends I've met who are also artists.

How is it better, with a group or without it? Yes and no. I enjoy the idiosyncratic contribution of other musicians. Their ideas, voices, instruments. Alone, however, it is the song itself that must stand naked and brave. No distractions. Scary, but inspiring. I'd doubt at this point, there'd ever be another band on stage with me.

The new CD release event seems huge - what are you having to do with it? I dreamt it up. Stitched it together. A bit weird, like planning your own birthday party or funeral. They're my friends, past and present, musically and otherwise, performing my songs. I haven't a clue what it'll be like, except that I expect to be embarrassed, moved, laughing, in orbit. Recording the two nights as well as video taping.

I dream, in 10 years of still going at it, the Art For The Day. Hopefully having made a feature film, and made, finally, some cash from my work. Though that is no deterrent.

Do you have a partner? Nope. Not opposed but the truth is that those to whom I'm attracted are rarely above 30. And for them to take an interest in me, Uncle Ricky - 60 years around the block - is delusional to say the least. I don't have a shining star on top of the tree, but there's a lot of lights all over it. I love many, many people and feel loved back. I've been lucky to have known all that insanity and passion to a full extent. If there was more, it, he, would have to really fight his way into my life.

What attribute of yours do people most comment on? My seemingly tireless energy. That I listen. that I rarely lose my temper. That I'm funny. That I see everything - often what others miss. That I'm sensitive. That I don't give a shit what most people think about me. That I look younger than my age. Right.